


It Takes Two

by Listentothelittlebird



Series: Code Bat [27]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Damian Wayne Acts Like a Kid, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Identity Reveal, Let Damian and Tim be siblings!, Let! Damian! Be a kid!, super mario odyssey - Freeform, the Bats would definitely try speedruns, the Nintendo Switch returns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28539993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Listentothelittlebird/pseuds/Listentothelittlebird
Summary: Damian can’t play Mario while he’s recovering. Tim can’t make his brother’s arm heal faster, but he can offer a hand.
Relationships: Jon Lane Kent & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Series: Code Bat [27]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964452
Comments: 60
Kudos: 447





	It Takes Two

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah. This happened. To those who have never seen or touched a Mario game ever, I’d be glad to hear your perspectives on this piece of crack XD

Damian was scowling. Titus was sprawled over his chest, and Damian was petting the dog absently while glaring at the ceiling. Alfred - the cat - was napping on the backrest of the couch. 

Tim glanced up from his laptop, catching Damian’s eye and raising an eyebrow at him. Damian huffed and averted his gaze, going back to staring at the ceiling. Tim squinted at his brother. It almost looked like he was… pouting.

Damian shifted, and Tim’s gaze went to Damian’s arm, still wrapped in a cast and recovering from his encounter with The Heretic. The cast was wrapped all the way down to his hand, making it difficult to maneuver for drawing, not to mention patrol. 

Tim had expected Damian to kick up more of a fuss about it, but between Dick and his friends visiting him and keeping him company, his fussing was only motivated by the mild frustration that came with a lack of vigilante training and activity.

Tim ducked his head back down towards his laptop, and caught the briefest flicker of Damian’s gaze towards the gaming console tucked underneath the television screen. Oh. _Oh._

Damian had been making his way through a game on the Nintendo Switch, which Tim had left at the Manor for whenever they wanted to play group games together. The console also had solo games, which Damian would struggle to play at the moment, what with the thick cast blocking his fingers.

…Tim had a solution for that.

Tim saved his work and closed his laptop, Damian blinking at him in confusion as he made his way towards the television and turned it on, while switching on the Nintendo Switch. Damian huffed when Tim started to fiddle with two controllers.

“I appreciate the sentiment, Drake, but I am unable to play with one hand,” Damian muttered dryly, still being smothered by Titus. “Titus, down,” Tim called, and the dog obeyed, Tim nudging Damian into a sitting position and plopping down next to him.

“Will you let me be your other hand, then?” Tim grinned, registering both controllers as one set and pressing the controller for the left hand into Damian’s uninjured palm, “It might take a few tries, but I’m sure we’ll make it work.”

Damian frowned down at his controller, and Tim watched in amusement as realisation slowly dawned on the boy’s face. “Do you even know the controls?” Damian criticised, refusing to acknowledge the smile on his face as he scrolled to Super Mario Odyssey. 

“It can’t be that hard,” Tim shrugged, clicking on the game.

It was… somewhat hard. Not as hard as it could have been, but especially when it came to dodging the occasional angry mushroom or attacks from a murderous rabbit, they had to make sure that their inputs were coordinated for what they wanted to accomplish.

“We should give this game to the Mad Hatter,” Tim chuckled, as they knocked a hat off an angry mushroom and proceeded to “capture” it - the game’s way of saying that they had possessed the little sucker.

“Tt. We should not be giving the Rogues creative material,” Damian admonished, as they started stacking the angry mushrooms. 

They managed to finish the game, and Damian was grinning when he accepted Tim’s high-five.

~

Damian’s cast came off soon after, and that should have been the end of it. That was, until Damian approached Tim, while he was hanging around the Manor.

“Have you heard of Mario Odyssey speedruns?” 

Tim tilted his head, spotted the rare sliver of childish glee behind Damian’s neutral expression, and smiled.

“You want to do a speedrun with split controllers, don’t you?”

“Tt. Is that a yes or a no?”

~

They were vigilantes that liked to challenge the odds of human capabilities. If anything, it should be more of a surprise that none of them had ever dabbled with speedrunning games before that moment. 

Speedrunning strategies made the game both harder and easier. Harder, because it required a combination of precisely-aimed and well-timed moves to carry Mario across the map without using the longer, conventional way. Easier, because once Damian and Tim started getting the hang of it, they could breeze through the entire game easily within two hours.

“What the f-udge,” Jason murmured, watching in bewilderment as the two made their way from one rooftop to the next through jumping, throwing caps, and diving.

“I’ve heard worse swears, Todd,” Damian huffed, as Mario landed safely on the other end of a rather long gap between buildings. 

Jason, who had only picked up one or two Mario games during his time in the Manor, ignored Damian’s comment in favour of switching his gaze between Damian’s left hand and Tim’s right hand, and the corresponding movements of the plumber with a mustache on the screen.

“What,” Jason deadpanned, as Mario ended the boss fight in a minute. “You know what? Whatever, keep on breaking the game,” Jason lamented, leaving the room in a flourish to two identical eye-rolls. Dick popped in as Jason left.

“Why are you collecting bananas?” Dick asked, as Mario and his ghostly hat friend celebrated on-screen.

“They’re moons,” Tim corrected helpfully. Dick frowned and turned his gaze back to the screen, but Mario was already moving again.

“And the moons can come in bunches?” Dick questioned, an eyebrow quirked in amusement.

“Hey, it’s video game physics,” Tim shrugged, “We even visit the moon, later in the game, so I don’t even know where these mini multi-coloured ones are coming from.”

“I’m going to have to go in, like, an hour,” Dick pouted, glancing at the clock, “But you can show me the moon stage another time!”

“That won’t be necessary,” Damian sniffed, “We’re already a third of the way through - we’ll be able to finish in an hour. Am I correct, Drake?”

“Yep,” Tim chirped happily, ducking under Dick’s hair ruffle to see the game, ignoring the fond smile stretched wide on their eldest brother’s face, “Blink and you’ll miss it, Dick!”

~

“Bonding?” Cass questioned, after staring silently at the two brothers for thirty minutes as they sped through the game with minimal communication.

“Bonding,” Tim agreed, reaching out to ruffle Damian’s hair with his free hand. Damian swatted at him with his own free hand. One thing led to another, and they were soon grappling and trying to push the other off the couch, video game forgotten.

Cass giggled and snapped a photo of the two boys, catching their relaxed and easy smiles amidst a tangle of limbs.

~

“One hour until patrol,” Bruce called from the door. 

Damian looked up from where he was using his phone, just as Tim stretched and yawned. They locked eyes and grinned.

Bruce returned to the room five minutes after an hour had passed to look for his two birds. He found them just as Tim whooped and leapt to his feet. Damian was delayed by a few seconds, watching the screen for a moment before jabbing a finger to his phone and breaking into a wide, triumphant smile.

“One hour and ten seconds!” he crowed, jumping up after his brother with excitement shining in his eyes, “A minute and twelve seconds faster!”

Bruce waited until Tim had finished cheering “P-B! P-B!” before he cleared his throat from the doorway. The two Robins froze and turned quickly to face him, Tim sputtering an apology and already stumbling past Bruce, Damian following behind him with a haughty scowl that did nothing to hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks.

Bruce watched his sons’ speed-walking quickly devolve into a race along the corridor with a smile.

~

“How are you so bad at this game?” Bart cackled in amusement, as Tim dropped off the side of the world as a frog. Tim squeaked out a protest.

“I’m not bad,” he protested, even as he clumsily steered Mario back to where he had left off, “I’m just not used to… using both hands, as weird as that sounds.”

“Then how else would you play?” Cassie piped up amusedly, “With one hand?”

Tim laughed, smirking internally, “Well, sort of. My brother injured himself a while ago, and we ended up sharing a set of controllers between us - so I’ve only ever played this game using my right hand, ‘cause my brother’s always controlled the left.”

There was a very brief silence, before Bart burst, “You have a brother?”

Kon rolled his eyes quietly as Tim let his smirk show.

“Yeah. A few brothers, in fact, and a sister,” Tim tacked on, gleefully taking in his teammates’ bulging eyes, “Don’t worry, we’re all adopted. Except my youngest brother - he’s the one who injured himself.”

“What the shit,” Cassie muttered under her breath.

“Then why have we never heard of them before?” Bart whined childishly, “We’ve only ever heard from that cousin of yours! Is she even your cousin, or was she just your sister?”

“She is- well, she’s the second unofficial sister,” Tim shrugged, “She’s basically our sister, at this point.”

Bart huffed and plucked the controllers out of Tim’s hands, his petty response to Tim’s newest unveiled secrets.

He let Tim have another turn, soon after.

~

“You forgot to throw Cappy!” Jon giggled, as Mario fell to his death. Damian murmured some choice words in Arabaic, silenced only by Tim’s pointed stare.

They were in the Kent farmhouse- Jon had wanted to invite Canvas to his home, and Tim had been dragged along upon Kon’s request. That Damian had accepted the invitation at all meant that he was likely to tell Jon his real name. Tim was curious as to how his little brother intended to reveal it, though.

Then Damian turned and a blue blur was flung towards him. Tim caught the controller easily, and noted the small smirk on Damian’s face.

“Sub-hour?” Damian challenged, and Tim wondered when his little brother had started to become a normal child of their generation.

“Sub-hour,” Tim agreed, and settled himself on the floor beside the couch. Kon leaned over the couch curiously, ignoring his own brother’s confused glances.

~

“How- what did you just-” Jon stammered in disbelief as Mario clipped out-of-bounds. “How long did you two play to get this good?”

“Oh, way too long,” Tim commented, Damian tutting in agreement, “I guess it helped that D had nothing better to do, with his arm in a cast and all.”

Jon had been told about Canvas’ injury by Maya and Suren, and now he squinted between Tim and Damian before his eyes widened like a bulb had been switched on.

“You guys live together?” Jon yelped. Damian wrinkled his nose, though his eyes never once left the screen, “I wouldn’t put it that way, Jon. My brother merely visits home frequently.”

“Brother,” Jon parroted, blinking dumbly before slapping his forehead, “Of course. You guys are brothers. That actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.”

~

“Come on! Come on!” Tim hollered, as the giant lumbering snapping turtle blew fireballs at the pillars of the collapsing cave, “Bowser, move faster, dammit!”

“It’s alright, all those fireballs will hit,” Damian declared, steering them towards the next pillar. Two were down, then three. The fourth one went down with a final claw, and they moved towards the centre.

“Time is-”

“Don’t tell us!” Tim cut Kon off, “Nope! We’ll look at it ourselves!”

The cube leaking golden light broke at the height of the loud and blaring finale song, and there was a tense moment of waiting for the final input, before the last button was pressed and Damian clicked off the timer at the designated end-frame of speedruns. Tim leaned over his shoulder, before giving a cry of victory.

“Fifty-nine minutes and fifty seconds!” Tim cheered, and swiped Damian into a hug before he could protest, “Yes!”

Damian’s sunglasses slipped off, and he made no move to catch them as they clattered to the floor. Tim smiled and gave his brother one last squeeze before he set him back down. Damian scowled up at him, the glare half-hearted and not enough to hide the genuine happiness in his eyes.

He turned to Jon, then, with a nervous tilt to his lips.

“My real name is Damian,” he stated, biting his lip, “I… apologise, for not telling you my real name. Using David Fletcher protected my real identity.”

“What changed?” Jon asked, openly curious, no trace of anger or rejection. Damian relaxed slightly at his innocent response, “My family has decided that it is better to reveal our relations than keep them all under wraps. Red Robin, Red Hood, Nightwing and Black Bat are all part of my family - and,” Damian huffed out a breath, “Batman is my father.”

Jon blinked, once, twice, before splitting into a wide grin. “So your Pa works with my Pa?” he questioned gleefully, “That’s so cool! We’re friends and they’re friends!”

Damian sighed and relaxed fully, Tim and Kon sharing a smile behind the exchange.

**Author's Note:**

> This whole fic’s concept was inspired by [this video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S5CyM9ZmjxQ) of Smallant and Failboat playing Super Mario Odyssey with split controllers XD


End file.
